


Waking Up In Vegas

by thedark_before_thedawn



Category: Florence + the Machine
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 22:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3827101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedark_before_thedawn/pseuds/thedark_before_thedawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Florence and Isabella wake up in Vegas in a room that isn't theirs and with no recollection of the night before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waking Up In Vegas

“B…blue. B-big blue.”

Her ears perked up. The darkness of her shut eyes slowly, and painfully, lightened up as she peeled them open very slowly.

“Blue.”

She heard again come from behind her.

She slowly turned her body to the other side and regretted it immediately. She couldn’t remember last night but she could tell she’d been drinking; a lot! She could feel the alcohol slosh around in her stomach and took deep breathes, resisting the strong urge to vomit. She tried to focus her eyes on what, or who, was making noise.

Her hazy vision slowly came into focus. She saw faded orange hair sprawled out on the white sheets in front of her and realised it was Florence; and she must be dreaming.

“Isa…Isa…no.” She heard Florence whimper. “D-don’t go.”

Her already fragile stomach churned as she heard those words. The words that she’d heard Florence say to her on many occasions but mostly when she had to fly back to LA.

Isa hesitantly reached out her hand to trace Florence’s bare shoulder. She delicately brushed a few tangle hairs from it and leaned forward; her lips millimetres from Florence’s ear.

“P-please.” Florence whimpered.

“Florence, it’s okay.” Isa said, her voice so low and croaky it was almost unrecognisable.

Seeing that Florence had shown no sign of waking, she let her fingertips trace Florence’s bare skin with a little more weight. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on Florence’s temple before she realised what she was doing. She pulled away a little surprised at herself and not sure why exactly she had done that. She shrugged it off before turning to lay on her other side. Sher starred ahead of her for a few seconds before she felt an arm wrap around her waist.

“Good morning Florence.” Isa croaked.

“There’s nothing good about this morning.” Florence moaned, her voice as raspy as Isa’s. She tightened her grasp around Isa’s waist and snuggled further into her.

“Aw is sleepyhead feeling sick?” Isa teased.

“Yes, now shut up and cuddle me.” Florence mumbled before turning over to face the other way, waiting for Isa to assume role as big spoon.

Isa sighed and turned to spoon Florence; wrapping an arm tightly around her and interlocking their hands.

“Erm…Isa?” Florence said, quietly.

“Yeah?” Isa mumbled, sleepily.

“Are you…have you got clothes on?” Florence asked in a nervous voice.

Isa suddenly opened her eyes wide. How did she not realise? She knew something didn’t feel quite right, well, not that it felt wrong but it just felt different.

“No.” She said, all too aware of how intimate this really was. “Have…have you?”

“Well, what do you think, Isabella?” Florence said and Isa could feel the eye-roll.

“I’ll, um…I’ll go get dressed.” Isa said quietly, going to move away but Florence tightened her grasp on Isa’s hand.

“Wait.” She said, almost a whisper. “Stay…I’m cold.”

“Florence, how could you be cold? We are in Nevada. Do you know how hot it is outside? I mean, look at it.” Isa said, moving up onto her elbows and looking around the room. But then something hit her; this wasn’t the hotel room they checked into last night. All their bags and suitcases were here but…but this wasn’t their room; or at least she didn’t think it was. “Florence?”

“Ugh, what do you want now, Isabella?” She asked, turning over to face Isa and sitting up slightly, mirroring Isa’s position.

“Okay, firstly you can stop calling me ‘Isabella’ right now, and secondly…this isn’t our room.”

Florence frowned at Isa and then looked around the room; and then her face had the same look of confusion that Isa’s had. “Well shit, it isn’t…or is it?” She looked around and realised that not only were their suitcases and bags on the floor, but the wooden floor was also scattered with rose petals and empty Champagne bottles and, for some reason, confetti. “Isa, our bags are here are they not?”

“Well yeah, but-”

“Well then let us enjoy whatever drunken decision we made last night that made us upgrade.” She said, lying back down.

Isa rolled her eyes before sitting up properly, keeping a firm hand on the sheets covering her naked body. “Whatever Flossie, I’m going to get a shower.”

“One more cuddle before you go?” Florence asked, with a mischievous grin.

Isa, yet again, rolled her eyes. “Fine.” But before she could even prepare herself for a hug, Florence has bundled her, knocked her onto her side and begun spooning Isa’s small body.

“Flo-”

“Just shh, Isabella.” Florence re-joined their hands and began brushing the back of Isa’s hand softly with her thumb. She slowly ran her fingers over Isa’s knuckle before stopping on her ring finger. “Isa, why are you wearing my ring?”

Isa opened her eyes and looked down at her hand and noticed that she was wearing an old vintage ring that Florence had bought last time they came to Vegas; it was Florence’s favourite ring. She tried to think of when she took it but then she noticed Florence’s ring finger and saw that a similar ring she’d bought at the same time as Florence was now on Florence’s finger. “I’m gonna go and get a shower.” She said quickly as she jumped up and dashed to the en-suite.

Isa had just got into the shower when Florence burst in unannounced with a weird expression on her face. “Isa, we’re in a honeymoon suite.” She said looking half apprehensive to tell Isa and half like they’d done the most hilarious thing.

“Florence?! Get out!!”

Florence ignored her and continued talking. “I mean, do you remember upgrading?”

“Flo, does it look like I remember?” Isa said, abandoning her hope of having a quiet shower and stepping out with a towel around herself. “Wait, is this why you let the hotel keep my credit card instead of yours? Was this your plan all along?” Isa asked, a lightness returning to her voice.

“What? No, Isa. I just…do you think we-”

“Nope.” Isa said, cutting her off.

“But-”

“Nope.”

“The rings-”

“Noopppeee.”

“Honeymoon Suite-”

“Didn’t happen.” Isa dismissed, putting on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

“Isabella!” Florence shouted, taking Isa by complete surprise. “Can you just take this seriously? We obviously did something last night.”

“I’m not denying that Florence, I’m denying that that particular stupid thing could have happened last night.” Isa said calmly, whilst putting on her signature heels.

“Stupid?” Florence asked.

Isa looked up to see Florence looking sad. “Flo…please do get all emotional-hungover on me.” She said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Oh I wouldn’t dream of it Isa.” She said bitterly. “Why is it so stupid? Is it so hard to believe anyone would want to with me? Am I so repulsive even my best-friend wouldn’t to?”

“Ugh, Florence I’m not dealing with this right now.” Isa grabbed her phone, some cash and a key for the room and headed to the door.

“You’re good at walking away.” Florence mumbled, but it was just loud enough for Isa to hear her, making her slam the hotel door that little bit harder behind her.

She wondered down to the seemingly empty bar in the hotel and took a seat. She didn’t know why she had grabbed her phone when it was dead. She ordered a drink and then turned her attention to the small TV on the wall of the bar. She could see E! News was on and rolled her eyes at the clearly bullshit rumours they were “reporting”. However, something caught her attention as she looked away and she turned her attention back to the TV.

“Pop songstress Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine seems to have gotten herself hitched while enjoying a small break in Vegas with bandmate, and now wife, Isabella Summers. Footage emerged of them going in and out of their very small ceremony and the pair even posted these pictures to Instagram.”

Isa couldn’t take her eyes from the screen as she saw a picture supposedly posted on Florence account of both of their hands with their rings, but the one than made it sink in for Isa was the photo she seemed to have drunkenly posted onto her account. They’d taken a selfie while kissing and hash-tagged in “wifey” and “its official”.

“The pair have been rumoured to be dating by fans for some time now but this is super cute. Congratulations and when will we get to meet some Florence and the Machine babies…”

Isa thought she was about to throw up. She put her head in her hands and started panicking. She’d calmed Florence down from many panic attacks but there was no way she’d be able to calm herself right now. This had to be a joke right? She didn’t really marry Florence…did she? Was this why spooning her naked didn’t feel wrong to her? Was this why she craved to have some sort of physical contact with Florence at all times? Had she drunkenly confessed her feelings that she’s been swallowing down to Florence last night and made it lead to this?

She started finding it harder to breathe, despite taking deep breaths. She kept muttering “fuck” to herself until she felt a hand rubbing her back and a familiar voice whisper in her ear.

“Isabella, it’s okay. Just breathe slowly for me okay?”

Isa tried to calm her breathing. It took a while but she finally got there. Florence sat silently next to her, still rubbing her back and whispering “it’s okay” to her, knowing that, even if Isa was in love with Florence, this type of commitment was a whole new level of panic and uncomfortableness for her. She just sat calmly, waiting for her to speak.

“You, um…you see the news?” She asked, shakily.

Florence shook her head. “No…all I had to do was look at my phone; it’s blown up with texts, calls and voicemail messages; which are mostly from Grace saying “I knew it would happen and fuck you for not inviting or telling me.””

Isa looked at her guiltily.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. I called her quick and she’d considerably less mad.”

“I’m…I don’t even know what to say.” Isa said quietly.

Florence smiled sadly at her and nodded. “Well, let’s go back upstairs because people are starting to stare.”

“Okay.”

Isa went to stand up but almost fell as she caught her heel on her chair. Florence caught her quickly and didn’t remove her arm from Isa’s waist as she led her up to their room. Isa didn’t have a choice but to put her arm around Florence as well. She battled with herself in her head as they walked. One part of her wanted to detach herself from Florence, as she didn’t know what she was feeling right now, but part of her liked the comfort of Florence’s arm around her waist; she liked being able to feel that Florence loved her; whether it was platonically or otherwise.

They reached their room and Isa stood in the middle of the room as she waited for Florence to shut the door and come in.

“So…” Flo looked across the room at Isa who, for once, was looking like the least confident of the pair.

“Florence, I’m sorry for being such an asshole before I stormed out, I’m really s-”

“Do not apologise Isa.” She cut in. “You were in shock. It was a perfectly reasonable response…to be honest, you reacted better than I would have imagined you would.”

Isa gave her a small smile as they stood looking at each other.

“What are we gonna do?” Isa said, quietly.

“I…I don’t know. What do you want to do?”

“Ugh, I don’t know Florence! I mean, how do you feel about it?”

Florence looked at her with sad eyes. Isa could tell that she didn’t really know how she definitely felt about it but she knew that Florence was afraid that Isa was going to say that she regretted it. “Look, I don’t really know how I feel…but I know that I don’t feel ba -”

Isa was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing.

“It’s Mairead. Shall I answer?”

Isa nodded.

“Hello…what?…We’re in room 823…Ugh, yes we’ll get there as soon as we can.” Florence hung up and looked back up at Isa, who looked a little pissed that she was cut off when she was trying to explain how she felt. “Mairead says we’re supposed to be in California.” Florence sighed.

“What?” Isa looked beyond confused.

“Apparently she called last night and told us we’d be going this morning but we told her to go ahead without us and we’d leave at noon today.”

“Why did we say tha…oh yeah, we were intoxicated.” Isa let out a small laugh. “To be honest, I expected nothing less than this. Us coming to Vegas unsupervised was not a wise move Florence Leontine Mary Welch.”

“Why are you full-naming me Isabella Janet Florentina Summers? You were the one who suggested Vegas.”

“True, now let’s pack up and check out…wait, how are we getting there?”

“You’re driving. I don’t want to be in an airport right now.”

“Fine. Now pack up your shit.”

The pair packed up their room rather quick and tried to leave it as tidy as they could and then headed down to the lobby to check out.

“Can we check out of room 823 please?” Isa said, feeling her headache creeping back up on her.

“Sure thing.” Said the receptionist as she typed some things into her computer. “The room is under Mrs Isabella Summers-Welch.”

“Of course it is.” Isa said under her breathe.

“The amount has been charged to your credit card, if there are any problems please let us know. Here is your number, take it to the front and the valet will be coming around with your car right now for you.” She smiled. “I hope you enjoyed your stay.” She said, all too cheerily.

“Yep, thanks.” Isa said, before turning around to head out. “Come on Flo.” She said, nudging her out of a daydream.

They gave the guy the number and waited for Isa’s car to come around to the front. There was a heavy silence that crept in between them as they waited.

“Summers-Welch?!” Isa said suddenly. “Summers-Welch?!”

Florence just looked at her and shrugged.

The car came arrived in front of them and Isa grabbed her keys from the valet’s hand, heading to the boot with their luggage.

“Do you need a hand with that?” he asked.

Isa gave him a slight death glare as she opened the boot. “No I got it.” She said, picking up Florence’s suitcase, which was significantly bigger than hers, like it was no effort at all. She put her own suitcase in the boot and slammed it shut. She opened her door and threw her bag onto Florence’s lap, taking her by surprise. “Sorry.” She mumbled before turning on the engine and finding her quickest way out of Vegas.

*

“Isa, I need to wee.” Florence whined.

“Florence, you went twenty minutes ago.”

“Yeah but I need to go again; and we need to get some more juice.”

“No. If we’re stopping for the second time in twenty minutes for you to go wee, we are not getting more juice. And besides we are now pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the desert so there is nowhere to stop.” Isa said, through gritted teeth. “Now could you please charge my phone? The charger and adapter thing is in my bag.”

Florence gave a small nod and reached into Isa’s bag. She stopped briefly when she came across a piece of paper at the top of Isa’s bag confirming hers and Isa’s marriage. Her heart skipped slightly as she stared at it. She rummaged around and found Isa’s charger and plugged it in before sitting back and staring out of the window. It still hadn’t quiet sunk in that she was married to her best friend. The one who she had swallowed her feelings for time and time again for as many years as they’d been friends.

“Everything okay?” Isa asked, glancing at Florence.

“Sure…yeah, fine.” Florence said, her voice coming out higher than expected.

“Well that’s convincing.” Isa chuckled. “Come on Flo, you tell me everything, what’s going on in that beautiful head?”

Florence frowned and looked at Isa. “Oh. So one minute you’re basically saying being married to me is the worst thing that has happened to you and then the next minute you’re calling me beautiful?”

Isa’s mood noticeably changed and she gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Okay, I never said that Florence. I never said it’s the worst thing. Don’t put words in my mouth.”

“Oh no, I’ll just put kisses on your mouth and then wake up the next morning and play ‘let’s forget that Isa might for one second actually have feelings’. I mean, we were never really that drunk to forget what happened, apart from last night, were we Isa.” Florence said, her voice rising as she got madder and thought more over what she had been bottling up.

“What? What is that supposed to mean Florence?”

“Nothing.” She mumbled bitterly, as she sank back into her chair and looked out the window at the empty desert road they had been driving down for an hour now.

“No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to just say ‘nothing’ and then make me sit here and feel like shit.”

“Just drive Isa.”

“You know what?” Isa said, slowly down and pulling over on the side of the road. “I’m not driving any further until you actually tell me what is going on with you?”

Florence could feel her eyes welling up. Out of everyone in the world she liked arguing with Isa the least. She took her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it and went into her pictures and videos. She selected a video before almost throwing it at Isa. “Here. Maybe this will clear up why I don’t understand you.” She said, tears now rolling down her cheeks. She opened the car door and walked slowly away from the car before sitting on the desert ground, wrapping her arms around her knees and crying.

Isa stared at Florence, watching her walk off and feeling the pang in her chest as she knew Florence was crying too much to keep walking. She looked back down at Florence phone in her hands and pressed play on the video.

“Isabella Summers, why am I recording?” Florence said, slurring her words.

“Because my phone is too full on memory and because I thought you would like to capture this moment.”

“And what moment would that be.”

The camera was on Isa as they were standing in a lift. Isa grinned at Florence and slowly walked forward. Isa could see in the reflection of the lift that she had taken Florence’s free hand in her.

“I thought you would like to capture the moment that I confess just how much I love you Florence, no…just how much I am in love with you. So much so that right now I am leading you to your future.”

“My future?” Florence asked, giggling.

“Yes, your future. Your future married to me Florence.” Isa said, still giggling and looking lovingly up at Florence. “So, Florence my sweet, will you do me the absolute honour of being my beautiful wife? Of being my Florence Leontine Mary Summers-Welch? Will you?”

Isa could hear Florence sniffing back drunk-happy tears on the video and realised that she herself was crying when her tears hit the phone screen.

“I would love nothing more.” Florence answered.

The camera focused on their reflection once again as they kissed in the lift and then it cut. Isa sat crying silent tears and shaking slightly as she stared at the screen. She swiped across and saw there was another video on there and clicked play.

“Do you, Isabella Summers, take Florence Welch to be your wife?”

Isa couldn’t remember who was with them last night, but the camera was on the pair as they stood at the altar hand in hand and staring into each other’s eyes.

“I do.” She grinned.

“And do you, Florence Welch, take Isabella Summers to be your wife?”

“Yes, I do.” She smiled.

“I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Isa’s tears ran down her cheeks faster as she watched the two of them kiss passionately. She locked Florence’s phone and put it down on Flo’s seat before putting her head in her hands and crying. She realised that wasn’t upset this had happened; but she was upset that she didn’t remember it. The videos jogged her memory a little, but she wished more than anything that she could remember it for herself. She also hated that she had needed to be drunk in order for her to tell Florence how she truly felt.

She cried a little more before remember that Florence was sitting out there all alone. She tried to compose herself and was thankful she didn’t have her trademark eyeliner on.

She took a few breathes before getting out of the car and walking towards Florence.

“Flo?” She said shakily as she stood a few paces behind where Florence was sitting.

Florence didn’t answer her. She stayed in the same position, still crying.

“Florence, I’m sorry. If I knew that I had confessed all of those things to you then I would have acted so differently. I wouldn’t have acted like such an asshole. I wouldn’t have been so scared.” Isa said, her voice breaking slightly.

Florence’s tears fell slower now and she stood up and turned to look at Isa.

“I was scared of losing you when you said you didn’t know what you wanted to do. In fact, I’m still scared of losing you Florence. I’m scared that you won’t believe that everything I said last night is how I feel. I hate that I had to drink to confess my feelings Flo, but I can’t deny it. I love you Florence. I love you and I’m sorry now please come back to the car before you get heatstroke.”

Florence stood unmoved, staring into Isa’s blue eyes.

“Please Florence, you’re almost translucent. I’m pretty sure you are already burning.”

Florence bit her lip and walked forward slowly, and stopped in front of Isa.

Isa looked up into Florence’s sad eyes and hesitantly reached her hand up to wipe the tears from Florence’s cheek as Florence dropped her eyes to the ground. “Come on.” Isa whispered. She put an arm around Florence’s waist and walked slowly with her to the car, opening her door for her before getting back into her seat. She took a deep breath and glanced at Florence for a moment. “So when did you find the videos?” Isa asked.

Florence met Isa’s gaze for a moment before looking down at her hands in her lap. “When you stormed out. My phone said it was nearly full on memory and I didn’t know why so I went into my pictures and there it was.”

Isa reached over and grabbed her bag from by Florence’s feet and pulled out a bottle of water from it. “Here.” She said, giving it to Flo. She threw her bag into the back and stared ahead at the desert road again. “Trust me to drunkenly propose in an elevator in Vegas.” She said, laughing.

Florence stared at her for a moment before starting to laugh too. Isa reached over and squeezed Florence’s hand and gave her a small smile before paying attention to the road again. “Get some sleep Flo.” She said quietly before bring Florence’s hand up to her lips to place a small kiss there. She looked at her once more before turning on the stereo to play Bon Iver’s album ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ knowing that Florence can never sleep in a car unless this album is playing.

Florence put her chair back before drifting off to sleep.

*

Florence was woken by the sound of Isa’s voice. She could hear her talking on the phone but she kept her eyes closed.

“Yes, we’ve just got to mine.” She said, in a hushed voice. “Can we meet up with you tomorrow instead? It’s just Flo’s really tired and today has been…emotional…thanks Mairead. I’ll call tomorrow. Bye.” Isa hung up and placed her phone back in her pocket. Florence heard the car door open followed by the boot. A few minutes later Isa came back and Florence presumed she had taken their suitcases and bags inside.

She heard her door open and a few seconds later she felt Isa brush a few stray hairs from her face delicately, and tuck them behind her ear. She felt Isa’s warm breathe on her cheek as she whispered her name.

“Florence. Wake up sweetie.” Isa whispered. She planted a light kiss on Flo’s cheek and grinned when she saw Florence open her eyes. “Come on, we’re home now.” Despite the fact Florence had been awake for a few minutes; she still struggled to open her eyes. “Come on sleepyhead.” Isa chuckled. She leant down to wrap an arm around Florence’s waist and wrapped one of Florence’s arms around her neck to steady her; her sleepy walking not showing much difference from her drunken walking.

Isa lead her inside and straight into the bedroom. She helped Florence take off her clothes and put a t-shirt on her before doing the same herself and then climbing under the covers. Isa lay on the left of Florence, as she always did, and stared at the ceiling.

“Cuddle.” Florence mumbled.

Isa turned to spoon Florence but instead found Florence lying on her back. She decided to rest her head on Florence’s chest and wrap an arm across her front. Florence moved to find Isa’s hand and interlocked their fingers, noticing that they were both still wearing their rings.

Florence let out a small sigh of content as she fiddled with Isa’s fingers.

“I love you too you know.” She whispered. She felt Isa stiffen slightly; not out of dread of the conversation but more out of shock. It had been a fair few hours since Isa re-confessed her love for Florence without so much as a word in response. She’d spent all that time debating whether Florence was being quiet out of fear that she had to say she didn’t feel the same.

Isa shifted to look up at Florence.

“I love you too, Isabella Janet Florentina Summers-Welch.” She giggled. “I guess I was just as scared as you were to say it.”

Isa sat up and leaned on her elbow. “I’m very happy you love me too…but can you please stop full-naming me? I’ve had enough of it today to last a life time.”

Florence just laughed and poked Isa in the ribs.

“So we’re going to be okay?” Florence asked, almost shyly.

“Yes Florence. We are going to be okay; although this whole marriage thing may take some getting used to.” She joked. “But I can assure you, there is no one I’d rather come home to and spend a night in with, there is no I’d rather go out and get shitfaced with, there is no one I’d rather have to come home drunk to or have coming home drunk to me. There is no one I’d rather kiss good night or fuck good morning and there is no one I would rather have drunkenly got married to in Vegas. I am sorry it took me this long to confess it and I’m sorry I’ve pretended to never remember our drunken kisses in all the years before; but I’m here being honest now and saying that I love that I can do this and not be afraid anymore.” She said as she leaned in to kiss Florence.

Florence crashed her lips into Isa’s with a strong urge. She felt nothing but a need to taste Isa and feel her in a way that she’s never truly felt before; in a way that is out of pure unashamed love.

After a while she found it difficult to continue kissing Isa and she was smiling too much. Isa pulled back out of the kiss and stared at Florence, grinning. She traced Florence’s cheeks lightly with her fingertips before placing a few light kissed on each of Florence’s cheeks and one last soft kiss on her lips.

“We’re going to be okay.” Florence whispered, millimetres from Isa’s lips.

Isa grinned and repeated her words. “We’re going to be okay…wifey.”


End file.
